I asked Scott to read, if he
would, that portion of scripture that he just did. I would like
for you to turn back there with me in Acts chapter 1. Again, let me thank you for the
honor. Each of you, I think, have thanked
me for coming, but let me thank you for having me. It's been
a delightful weekend. I've looked forward to it very
much. Joe, I saw at the conference,
and Joanne in September, and Danville last September. And we have one not too long
after Don has his. Ours will be the last weekend.
I think it falls September 29th, 30th, October 1st. You're all
invited. Sylacauga, Alabama. When I first
went there, my former pastor, and I still consider him to be
my pastor, Mr. Fortner, whom you'll have here
in a month or so, he sent me an email and he said,
well, how are things going for the Bishop of Buzzard's Roost? Buzzard's Roost. So I thought,
I can't let that slide, Levi. So I called him. I said, what
are you talking about, Don? Buzzard's Roost. He said, that's
what Sylacauga means. buzzards roost. I said, you're
pulling my leg. He said, ask some of your people.
Well, he wants to pull my leg. That's charming, isn't it? Don had to share that with me.
But anyway, I'm delighted to be with you and you're all invited
to come down. I'd love to have you anytime.
Anytime you're coming within 50 or 100 miles of Sylacauga. Come visit me. Come visit me.
I'll try to make you as welcome as you have me. Okay, here in
Acts chapter 1, our text is going to be verse 11, and our subject
will be this. Three words, and you've probably
guessed them. The angel's message to the astonished
disciples as they stood gazing up And I don't find any fault
with them, do you? I would have done the same thing.
My soul, what a sight! Until the Lord could no longer
be seen by them. And the angels sort of just startled
them out of their stupor. And they said this, verse 11. Ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus. This same Jesus. Not another. Not a different
one. This same one. Whatever He was, whoever He was,
as He was when He left that day from Mount Olivet, that's the
same Lord Jesus Christ that reigns in heaven now, and that's the
one His people are looking to return. This same Jesus which
is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner
as you have seen Him go into heaven. Everything I said in
the previous message about God's grace, about God's great salvation,
about God's purpose of grace, everything I said there and everything
in the book of God from cover to cover, every purpose, every
promise depends for its fulfillment upon this same Jesus. All God's purposes are tied up
in Him. Scott Richardson used to say,
God put all of His eggs in one basket, referring to the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we're
complete in Him. How could we be anything else?
If we're in that One in whom dwells all fullness, all grace,
then how could we be anything other than complete? How can
a believer lack anything? Now, religion will tell you,
you lack much. Oh, but not so. Not so. Having Christ, I have
all that God Almighty can bestow and every promise, as we said,
of the triune God depends upon His glorious Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. As we read in Ephesians 2 earlier,
or we didn't read down that far, but in verse 11, it tells us
what we have without Christ. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have God. You can't come to God and take
a detour around Christ. It's not possible. Outside of
Christ, God is nothing to you but a consuming fire. He can't
be anything else. Jesus Christ, He said Himself,
is the way. Singular. The way to God. There's only one Mediator. And
it's not Mary. And it's not Saint. And it's
not Pope. And it's not Baptist. It's not
Catholic. There's one Mediator between God and man, and that's
the man, Christ Jesus. Everything depends on Him. Again,
in Ephesians 2, Paul tells us, without Christ in the world,
we're without God. And we're without hope. We're
without hope. If I don't have Christ, it doesn't
matter what else I profess, what else I claim to have experienced.
If I don't know Christ, I don't have grace. I don't have salvation. And whether I realize it or not,
and if I'm in that condition, God opened my eyes to know it. But without Christ, I'm lost. Oh, but with Him, with Him, you've
heard the hymn. You've heard it quoted by these
preachers that come before me and those that will follow after.
The hymn writer expressed it this way, with His holy garments
on, as holy as God's own Son. Paul said God had made him Christ
to be unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Oh yes, with the Lord as my shepherd,
I don't lack a thing. I don't lack anything, as David
said. There was a man one time teaching
young children, six, seven year olds, in a Bible class. trying to impress upon them the
preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he asked them, what
does precious mean? Do you know what the word means,
precious? And a little girl raised her
hand and said, I think I do. And he said, well, tell us, what's
precious? And she said, well, my father was just telling us
this morning at the breakfast table that mother was precious.
Our mother is precious because what would we do without her?
That's a pretty good definition, isn't it? Christ is precious
because where would you be without Him? Where would you be without
Christ? Without Christ, without hope. I mean, I recall that I'm going
to digress from my notes a little. My pastor told me one time, usually
our digressions are better than our preparations, being led by
God's Holy Spirit. But I recall when God Almighty
first began to deal with my soul, I went to people whom I knew,
had acquaintance with, that claimed to know God and asked them, What
must I do to be saved? I didn't have a clue. I just
lost, lost. That's all I knew. God had gotten
me lost. I was convinced of that. And
I went to my dear grandmother. She had professed to have been
a Christian all the years I've ever known her. Grandmother,
what must I do to be saved? Ken, she told me the first thing
you need to do is go get that haircut. I was a hippie. I was just a mess is what I was.
That's what she told me. And you need to get you a Bible.
And you need to act right. What does that mean? Act right? What does that mean? Grandmother,
I'm lost. That's all I know for sure. I'm
lost. Well, I got a haircut. And I
got me a Bible. And I tucked it under my arm.
And I began to go to church. And God Almighty is saying, you're
lost. You're lost. And the preacher
told me to trot up to the front of the church, to their altar,
and kneel down and repeat after him. And I did that, and I did
that every service they had. I did that until he got tired
of seeing my face. I was a hard case. He didn't
know what to do with me, because I wouldn't accept this, my decision. Because at night, they would
tell me I'm saved, but I'm lying in bed at night. God says, you're
lost, you're lost, you're lost. Without hope. without God in
the world. And I'd heard that old hymn,
Amazing Grace, prior to that time, I'm sure, scores and scores
of times, and it didn't mean a thing to me. It didn't mean
nothing. Until God got me lost. And then I understood Newton's
words. I understood what he was talking about when he said it
was a grace that taught My heart to fear. I didn't believe that at the
time. If someone would have told me, you're lost, you're undone,
and you know that God's being good to you, I'd say, man, are
you kidding me? Good? I'm miserable. I'm lost. I'm going to hell. What do you
mean? Good? But Newton expressed it well.
It was grace that taught my heart to fear. Got me lost. But didn't leave me there. No,
no, no. God doesn't do that. If he strips
you, it's so he can clothe you. If he gets you lost, it's so
he'll save you. If he brings you down, it's so
he can lift you up. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear. And grace, my fears relieved. And I understood. For the first
time in my life, I understood that old hymn. And I'll tell
you this. I thought, when God spoke peace
to my heart, how precious, how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. And even as I recite those words
to you, I'm asking myself, Larry, does His grace still appear that
precious to you? Like the young girl said, mother's
precious, where would we be without her? Oh God, for this sinner
and all others, all believers, be pleased to draw back the curtain
of memory now and then. Remind us where you brought us
from and where we could have been. This same Jesus, notice
in verse 1, here in Acts 1 that Joe read with us a moment ago. Luke says, The former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and to teach. What he's referring to there
is his Gospel. Luke wrote Acts, and Luke of
course wrote the Gospel of Luke. That's what he's referring to
as the former treatise. Of all that Jesus began both
to do and to teach. what he did while he was on this
earth. For example, when our Savior
cried, it is finished. Do you remember that? Before
he breathed out his last and gave up the ghost, saying, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. But before he said that, before
he did that, Remember what he said to his disciples in John
4? When they came back with food and he seemed refreshed and revived
because he had just found one of his lost sheep, the woman
at the well? And he said, I've got meat to
eat that you don't know about. And they said, what is he talking
about? Somebody else brought him something to eat while we
were gone? And he said, my meat is to do the will of Him that
sent me and to finish. Now don't let that go by too
quick. I mean, I know like you, myself and you, have always heard,
well, God tried to, and Jesus attempted to, and He made it
possible. That's not the Word of God. The Word of God never talks that
way. Seriously, the Word of God never represents God, the triune
God, God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit.
Not one time, not one verse, not one word does it ever say,
God tried. You won't find it. It's not there. God doesn't try, God does. God accomplishes His purpose. I'll do all my will, saith the
Lord. I'll do all my pleasure. But
none can say, my hand does this, none can say unto me, what doest
thou? Ask Nebuchadnezzar, that proud
rebel, that king. He was walking on the balcony
of his palace one evening and looked over at great Babylon
and he said, man, old man, I imagine he was like this. Man, look at
great Babylon. Look what I've done. Aren't I
something? And God Almighty said, hmm, we'll
see what something you are. And the next picture we have
of him, he's down on all fours, grazing like a wild beast. And then God was pleased to bring
his sanity back to him. And he said, Oh, I've learned
something. I've learned something. That God rules. God Almighty
rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And none can stay His hand. None can stop Him doing
what He desires to do or say unto Him, What doest thou? And Nebuchadnezzar said, I learned
something else. Those that Those that exalt themselves,
He's able to bring down. He's able to abase. That's our great God and Savior.
And our Lord said, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent
me and to finish. Don't you like that, child of
God? And to make possible His work. To do half of it. No, no. I came to finish the
work, all that God gave me to do in Luke 18, just days before
He went to the cross. He told His disciples, He said,
we're going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man is going to be
delivered into the hands of sinners. And they'll take Him and scourge
Him and spit upon Him and crucify Him. Because everything written
concerning the Son of Man, He said, must be accomplished. Not attempted, but accomplished. Not taken a stab at, but finished. I must finish the work. And this
is what Luke is referring to. The form of treatise of all that
Jesus began to both teach and to do. And on that cross, after
living a perfect life before God, from the first moment He
breathed When he entered this world through the womb of a virgin,
God Almighty, God in the flesh, imagine that. No wonder Paul
said, great is the mystery of godliness, Cam. God Almighty
was manifest in the flesh. You telling me that that little
dark-skinned male baby boy, that infant in the manger is God Almighty? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because his brethren were flesh
and blood, he likewise took part of the same, that he might be
a merciful and faithful creator in things pertaining to God.
And he lived a perfect life from the first breath he drew when
he entered this world, saying, I come in the body that you prepared
me to do thy will, O God, I come, I come. Every thought he ever
had. Every word He ever uttered, every
motive, everything He ever did, as we would say, from the cradle
to the grave, perfectly set aside God Almighty, and He did it as
my substitute. Yes, He was my substitute on
the cross, but He was my representative in that perfect holy life that
He lived, of all that He began both to do and to teach. And then, after That perfect
life of perfect obedience to God's perfect and holy law? Christ didn't come to set aside
the law. He said, I come to fulfill the
law. And He did, glory to His name. And on the cross, after offering Himself without
spot to God, after He who knew no sin was made sin, Understand
that. Made sin. That we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. He lifted his head as the glorious
conqueror of sin and death and hell that he was and he said
it is finished. Finished. Have you ever heard
any better news than that in your life, child of God? It's
finished. It's finished. Oh, I feel so
sorry for people like my dear grandmother. Her religion consisted
in only this. And I would that it wasn't so. I don't take any pleasure in
this, but I know that it's so. I can't deny it. Her religion
was touch not, taste not, wear not, go not, do not. And she was always miserable.
Is it any wonder? Is it any wonder? She lived a
life of, don't touch this, don't touch that. She thought righteousness
was not something God Almighty established, not something that
Christ does for the sinner. It's something that she was doing
by denying this and denying that and not wearing this and not
going there. And she was always so sad. Always so sad. Oh, thank God! Thank God that
Christ, not Larry this sinner, but Christ established righteousness
for me. Christ obeyed the law for me.
Christ delivered me from its curse. And I am complete in this
saying, Jesus. I'll tell you what, there is
nothing this side of heaven, as the expression goes, that
a sinner will experience than that. To have peace with God. Peace with God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And be able to lie down at night.
I mean, look back over today. When you lie down at night, look
back over today. Be honest. Look back over the
course of this day after it closes and you lay your head on your
pillow and look back and ask yourself, did I offer a perfect
righteousness to God? Did I live a perfect life before
God today? Did you? Well, absolutely not. But without it, without it you're
lost. God demands perfection. Oh, and
Jesus Christ gave it to me. Jesus Christ gave it to me. I
think it's Psalm 85. It speaks of the Lord's righteousness
in placing us in His steps. When I was a young boy back home
in the mountains of West Virginia, we lived up a hollow. Now, I've
used this illustration in places where people have come up to
me afterwards and said, man, what's a hollow? Do you people
know what a hollow is? Got a clue? Give me a clue. Yes, okay. Alright, I lived,
we lived in the last house in the hollow. The very last house.
I mean, the road dead ended at our house. If you went any further,
you'd have to get out of your car and walk. And one winter,
man, the snow was really deep. And my mother had gotten toys,
a toy or so a piece for Me and my brothers and sisters, four
each, nine of us children. But the snow was so deep she
couldn't get out to the store. You know, remember the layaway
plan, the easy payment plan? And she couldn't get to the store.
So my grandmother got my uncle to come as far as he could. She
went and got the toys to give. He got so far, but he couldn't
get the rest of the way. So I followed my father through
the snow, and he had a sleigh. And I was right behind him. Boy,
my father, I thought he was the biggest man in the world when
I was little. And anyway, I was following him. And every place
he would put his foot in the snow, make a track, I would try
to put mine. I mean, it was all I could do
to reach as far as he did, but I was trying to, you know, follow
his tracks. The Lord shall place us in His
steps. The Lord Jesus Christ. Steps
of perfect righteousness. Scott, steps of perfect obedience. In word, in thought, in deed,
God Almighty puts this sinner in the steps of Jesus Christ.
And he treats this sinner as though he himself walked that
perfect life of obedience before a just and holy God. That's what
it means to be accepted and to be loved. To be accepted and
to be loved in this same Jesus. And the book of Acts is a continuation
Our Lord said it's finished. Everything He intended to do
when He was on this earth, He finished it. He didn't leave
anything undone that He came to do. Sin was finished when He died
on the cross. Righteousness was finished. Atonement
was finished. Satisfaction to God was finished.
The law was finished. Christ has delivered us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. People say, well,
yeah, I know the law can't save, but I still believe it can help
us get sanctified. I beg your pardon. No, it can't. No, it can't. It was never intended
to do either of those things. No, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, but after that, we're no longer under a
schoolmaster, and thank God we're not. A child of God doesn't need
the whip of the law to keep him in line. If he does, something's
wrong. Oh no, we stand as sons of God
in the glorious liberty of the children of God being adopted
into His family with Jesus Christ as our elder brother. He finished
it all. By His own blood, we read in
Hebrews 9 verse 12, by His own blood He entered in once into
the holy place having obtained, that's another good word, it
doesn't say He made possible, No. Having obtained, he got the
job done. Eternal redemption for us. That's
what he meant when he cried, It is finished. He bore all the sins of all of
his people. He bore them away. Away. Like the scapegoat. Chased out into the wilderness
to be seen no more. Oh, the bliss. of this glorious
thought, my sins not in part but to whole, all of them, were
nailed to His cross and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! O my soul!"
That's the accomplishments of this same Jesus. Remember, in Malachi chapter
3, God Almighty declares, I am the Lord I change not. I change not. I hear people say
God can love you enough to save you today and then hate you enough
to cast you into hell tomorrow. Well, I don't want nothing to
do with a fickle God like that. No, the Lord says, I am the Lord,
I change not. I mean, how would he change?
He's perfect. Perfection has no need to change.
You and I either change for the better or for the worse. Your
wives can testify to that fact concerning your husbands, I'm
sure, and many concerning me. But God Almighty is perfect.
You can't add to perfection. He says, I change not. Therefore,
there's some sweet consequence to an unchanging God. He says,
therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now think about
that. I am God, I change not. Therefore,
if God loves me today, He'll love me forever. Nothing, Scott,
nothing. Nothing can separate a believer
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Not
even themselves. Nothing. I am the Lord, I change
not. His mercy never changes. His purposes never change. Therefore, we're not consumed. And remember what the Lord Jesus
said, this same Jesus? He said, I and my Father are
one. He's immutable too. Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Thank God our Savior
never changes. The anchor of my salvation never
changes. The captain, the glorious captain,
that's responsible to bring me to glory, never changes. My advocate with the Father,
never changes. He pleads for this sinner and
he's always heard. My all in all Jesus Christ is
the same forever. This same Jesus. And He still is. He still is. And the angels told them, And
God help us to remember it as well, to be reminded of it as
well. This same Jesus is coming again. Now Peter said, they'll come
in the last days, scoffers and mockers, and we encounter them
all the time. And they'll say, well now, where's
the sign of His coming? We've heard that all of our lives.
Since our fathers died, since our forefathers fell asleep,
we've heard that He's coming back. Where's He at? Where's
He at? And you remember Peter's answer. The Lord's not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness like the
scoffers and the mockers, but He's longsuffering to usward
His people, His chosen, His redeemed, His elect, not willing that any
of those should perish until all come to repentance. That's
why the world stands. It's not determined about what
Israel does or what some politician does. This world stands because
God Almighty, the Great Shepherd, is still calling out His sheep.
That's the only reason this world exists. And when He calls out
The last one God entrusted into His hands. The last one whose
sins He bore away. The last one He calls out of
darkness into light. Whenever that takes place, that's
when the end shall come. And He'll, as we read in the
Gospels, there in Hebrews 1, like a vesture, as easily as
I just folded that handkerchief and laid it aside, that's what
He'll do with this world. He'll be done with it. When the
great shepherd of the sheep calls out his last sheep, then he,
this same Jesus, shall come again. He showed himself alive. Notice
the verse 3 here in Acts 1. Luke says, He showed himself
alive after his passion, that is, after his death, by many
infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking
of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. He's alive. He's alive. I read somewhere
that during times of persecution, these times of the apostles and
soon following, that that's how believers would identify themselves
to another believer. If they were a stranger and being
persecuted, wanted to be sure that this one may be a believer
as well, they would say, He's risen. And if they were a believer,
they would know, oh yeah, and they would respond, oh yes, he's
risen. And then enjoy a sweet fellowship. You see a dead Christ
can't save anybody. The Catholic Church, and plus
a lot of others, represent Christ usually in one of two pictures. Either the babe in the manger
or hanging on the cross. One or the other. Perhaps neither
one present a threat to them. I don't know the reason for all
that. Just idolatry. But a dead Christ cannot save
anybody. Christ left on the cross doesn't
save anybody. It's a living Savior that saves
His people. This is the work that He's doing
now. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
Myself. And this is the ongoing work
of the risen Savior that the book of Acts is all about. In
Acts 2, Peter told those who said, you guys are drunk. He
said, no, this is that. This is proof. Jesus has done
this. He sent this forth. God has exalted
Him, a Prince and a Savior. He's responsible for this. When
the women, Mary Magdalene and others, first went to the tomb
before daylight that morning to finish preparing the body
of the Lord, which they had to discontinue because the Sabbath
grew on. They came to finish the job.
Of course, he's not there. And the angels say, why do you
seek the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen. He's risen. He is risen with
healing in His wings. He's risen as a prince and a
savior. He's risen as the mighty God.
And His resurrection is the sure and certain proof that God Almighty
accepted the atonement of His Son. If He had not, His Son would
still be in the tomb. When Christ said on the cross,
It is finished, and bowed His head, And God Almighty, three
days later, raises His body from the grave. It's as if He was
saying, Amen, my son. It's finished and I'm satisfied. I'm perfectly satisfied with
all you've done. Come and sit on my right hand
until I make all your enemies your footstool. You're exalted,
a prince and a savior. That's this same Jesus that they
saw as sending back the glory. Not the defeated Jesus. Man,
that dude's an imposter. He's an imposter. That one that can't have his
way, that needs your help. He's an imposter. I remember
years ago hearing Paul Harvey. Do you remember Paul Harvey that
was on the radio? And I listened to him. And I
don't remember the exact context. I think it had more to do with
the social issues and the state of America or something like
that. But he had a thing he read. I suppose he wrote himself. If
I were the devil, And he would do thus and thus and thus, which
were the very things America was doing at the time. Let me tell you one of the, I
don't know if the right word is master strokes, but wasn't
it an ingenious sort of thing? Wasn't it clever? A subtle trick
of the father of lies, Satan, when he pawned off on this generation
another Jesus? Can you think of anything more
deceptive? Can you think of anything more
damning? Can you think of anything worse
than for someone to be trusting another Jesus? That One who cannot
save, they admit that He cannot save. That imposter, on another
occasion, on this same mount, on Mount Olivet, Our Lord told
His disciples. They came to Him as He left the
temple, I think, for the last time. And He said, you see all
these stones? There will be not one left upon
another. And the disciples said, Lord, when will these things
be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end
of the world? And He answered all three. But He went out to
the Mount of Olives and He sat down. Do you remember the first
thing He said in answer to their question? The very first thing
he said, and he repeated it throughout his discourse. Be not deceived. The first thing he said. Many
false Christs shall arise and deceive many. Now he wasn't talking
about somebody coming down the street with 666 tattooed on their
forehead. That's not going to deceive anybody.
He's talking about a false Christ. He's talking about that imposter.
That Jesus that's preached in most pulpits today that can have
his way. If you're trusting him, you're
trusting an antichrist. You're trusting an imposter.
God open your eyes that you may see. The true Jesus, this same
Jesus, He's the Mighty Father. He's the Prince of Peace. He's
the Everlasting God. He's the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He's Sovereign. He's Lord over
everyone all the time. He always has His way, and I'll
tell you what, only a rebel has a problem with that. When I hear
him say, Father, you've given me power over all flesh, I say,
that's good to hear. That's comforting to hear. I'm
in the hands of one who has all power. I'm in the hands of one
whom no one can pluck me from. You've given me power over all
flesh. That's you, unbeliever. He has
power over you. It's up to him. It's all up to
him. That He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. I find that comforting,
don't you? And I'll tell you, the only people
that that would make nervous are rebels. Rebels. They would
like to trust this other Jesus. They hope that it is true, that
their salvation is not dependent upon Him, but it depends upon
them. that they can manipulate Him,
that He's at their beck and call, that He's my doormat into heaven
or my fire escape out of hell. That's not Him. That's not Him.
That's an imposter. That's one of those Christ's
the Lord said that were false Christ's that would arise and
deceive many. And He said, be not deceived.
He said if it were possible, He said they'll show great wonders.
If it were possible, he repeated in that discourse in Matthew
25, they deceived the very elect. But he won't allow that. He won't
allow that. Peter, I've prayed for you that
your faith fail not. And Levi, even when Peter stood
cursing at the campfire of the Lord's enemies and calling down
curses from God on his head to try to prove to them that he
could not be one of the Lord's disciples who at that very moment
was standing as Peter's substitute. Oh, though we deny him, he abideth
faithful. He won't deny his own. Peter,
I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. And even while
Peter was doing that cursing, he still believed. He still believed. Faith is a continual, continual. Peter, I've prayed that your
faith fail not. In glory to His name, it didn't
fail. And neither were yours, child
of God. Neither were yours. Oh, I believe that you're the
Christ, the Son of the living God. This same Jesus shall come
again. And it was on this same Mount
Olivet that he ascended back to glory from, the glory that
he had with the Father before the world began. At the base
of that mount, I wonder if they passed that spot where that night
he entered in, where he began to trod the winepress
alone. That was in the Garden of Gethsemane. That was on the Mount of Olives. left the disciples at a distance,
and then took Peter, James, and John, and they went with him
a little further. Then he said, wait right here. Watch and pray. Remember? That was in Gethsemane. That was on the Mount of Olives,
where he prayed until great drops of blood forced their way from
his brow, where he endured such an experience. I mean, we never
see him like that. We're told that he was sore amazed,
troubled. Oh, was the shadow of the cross
then eclipsing his holy soul? Was he beginning even then to
feel the withdrawal of God Almighty when he cried, Father, if it's
possible, let this cup pass from me. And he rose from prayer and
came back and they were sleeping. I sought comfort, but I found
none. I looked for some to help but there was none. It was on the Mount of Olives
that that took place. And then he said, Father, not
my will but thine be done and glory to his name. He took the
cup of God's righteous wrath and on the cross he put it to
his lips. And he drank it. And he drank
it. Oh, he cried, God, you've forsaken
me, but he still drank it. And now it's empty, Jove. It's
empty. What cup do we have now? Oh,
we have the cup of blessing. The cup of grace. The cup that
the psalmist spoke of. My cup runneth over. Because
he drank damnation dry. They ascend to the top of the
mount, and they stop. And our Lord, Luke, also tells
us in the closing chapter of his Gospel, in the very act of
blessing them, like the high priest of old used to come out
and bless the children of Israel, the Lord was blessing them. And
as He was doing so, He began to ascend back to heaven. Look at Him. Isn't He something? Isn't He glorious? Oh, there
He is. He accomplished eternal. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. And now He ascends back to heaven. God took Him up. How high did
He take Him? How high did He ascend? Well,
so high that there is nothing, including me and you, that's
not under His feet. He is so highly exalted by God
the Father that there is no one or nothing that's not under His
control. He's the mighty God, the King
of kings. Do you know Him? Do you know
Him? Do you know this same Jesus?
Oh, God forbid that you're trusting that imposter Oh, that you might
know this same Jesus. He was taken up so high that
God's given Him a name above every name. Every knee is going
to bow. And Tom confessed that Jesus
Christ is Lord, Lord before, for so many, before that He even
cast them into outer darkness, they'll bow. They'll bow. They'll bow to the King. Oh may
God give us grace to bow down. It would be delightful, so delightful
if today, and I pray that the Lord would be pleased to do it,
that we would be enabled by His grace and Spirit when we say
the final Amen here that our souls have been refreshed. And I hope I'm I hope I'm sincere
in this that you don't leave here saying well, that fella
from what was the name of that place buzzards roost Alabama
he's okay. But he wasn't like who was here
last week. He's gonna be next week. Oh,
no, no, no, no. Forget my name. It don't matter
if you ever remember my name. Oh, but maybe Leave here and
in your heart of hearts be singing, oh my, what a Savior. Hallelujah. What a Savior. I know you've heard the story.
When Mr. Spurgeon pastored a tabernacle
in London, they issued tickets because so many people wanted
in to hear him preach. One fellow who was a member met
someone in line and gave him his ticket. He said he came there
to One of the reasons he came from America was to hear Spurgeon.
And he said, I'll give you my seat. But he waited outside.
Afterwards, as the crowd fouled out, he saw the man. He said,
what did you think? What did you think? What did
you think of my pastor? What did you think of the famous Mr.
Spurgeon? And the man said, well, I guess he was all right. I guess
he's okay. He said, what? That's all you
had to say? He said, oh, I don't know about
Spurgeon, but he said, oh, my soul, I sure got a glimpse of
a glorious Savior. That's all that matters. That's
all that matters. God bless you. Thank you again
for having me. Let's pray together. Our great and gracious Heavenly
Father, we do thank You. Thank You, Father, for the blessed,
blessed privilege that you've given us to meet together this
day in that name which is above all others. So thankful, Father,
that our great Shepherd has sheep everywhere, everywhere. And it
is such a blessing to meet those of like precious faith, those
who have been redeemed with the same precious blood, kept by
the same mighty power of God, the same love for the gospel,
that gospel that concerns your Son. We thank you for these Dear
folk, your flock here, and pray that you will continue to guide
them and lead them, and be pleased, Father, to place over them, if
it's according to your will, a faithful pastor that would
feed them. Thankful, Father, that they have a commitment to
your gospel, your honor, and your son in this place, and we
ask that you would be pleased that the witness from this place
would shine out all through this area, and you would be pleased
to use them to call out sinners, your chosen, your sheep, the
salvation. Oh Father that Christ would be
exalted here and where we preach and we're so thankful that you
have faithful pastors all over this land preaching that same
glorious gospel that we've endeavored to do this day. Bless the men
that will follow after me here. God give them a safe journey
Make them a means of edification to your people and save sinners
for your namesake. Thankful, Father, once again
for the time that you've given us. In Christ's name we give
you thanks. Amen.